Feichko's walk-off gives Dinos much needed boost in key win

After a rough start to Region 12 play losing their first two games to perennial powerhouse Spanish Fork, the Carbon High baseball team was looking for a spark to get them back on track.

Enter Kayden Feichko.

The senior provided the clutch hit in the bottom of the eighth inning that the Dinos were searching for in a 6-5 comeback win over 4A East High on Friday afternoon at home.

"He (Spanish Fork pitcher Kim Doane) threw me a fastball down the middle and I was just looking to put the ball into play," said Feichko after the game.

The win over East capped a turnaround week for the Dinos as they also went on the road and defeated 4A Olympus 14-2 on April 3.

Carbon High head coach Troy Moynier said the team still has many areas in need of improve but the win was a step in the right direction.

"We got some hits early in the game and we were finally able to get that hit from Kayden in the end to win it," said Moynier.

The momentum in the game shifted between both teams like weights on a pendulum. East opened the game with a four run first inning off Carbon starter Dakota Cisneros who struggled to find the strike zone and the defense behind picked up an early error allowing the runs to score.

The Dinos answered back in the bottom of the first with a two-out RBI double by Feichko scoring Bryce Blackburn.

In the bottom of the second inning, CHS third base coach Jeff Cisneros was tossed from the game after arguing about a base runner interference call with the home plate umpire.

The Dinos didn't let that faze them as they added two more runs in the inning on a error and an RBI single by Tyler Procarione to cut the East lead to 4-3.

Dakota Cisneros ran into trouble in the top of the third inning as East got a leadoff double and an error moved the runner over to third base. Cisneros struck out the next batter and got two ground outs to get out of the inning with no damage.

East broke through scoring a run on another Dino error in the top of the fifth inning to make it 5-3.

In the bottom of the fifth inning, the Dinos answered back with two runs on an RBI single by Derek Young and a sac fly by Cole Fossat to tie the game at 5-5.

In the sixth inning, Cisneros again escaped damage after allowing the first two batters to reach base. He came back with a strikeout against the next batter and induced an interesting double play as Blackburn scooped up a grounder to second and threw to Young at first for the out. The East base runner rounded third too far, possibly thinking the inning was over, and the Dinos took advantage by catching him in a rundown and tagging him out at home plate.

The Dinos were unable to capitalize on scoring chances in the sixth and seventh innings.

Young, who has become a top option in relief, once again was called on by Moynier to come in relief. Young answered with shutdown innings in the seventh and eighth keeping the East offense from generating any offense.

In the bottom of the eighth, Kellen Trujillo walked and a balk by East's Doane moved him to second base. Feichko responded with a single to right field as the Carbon High dugout emptied to celebrate the win on the field.

"I've been very pleased with his work coming in late in games and knowing that he can throw well," Moynier said of Young.

Young, who played catcher, first base and pitcher in the game, said he just wants to be out there with the team trying to get a win.

"As long as I'm out there on the field playing, I'm happy," he said.

With the tough start to the Region 12 season, Young said the team wanted to come back strong against 4A schools during a break in the region schedule.

"These were two big wins for us and it helped test the character of our team," he said.

While the team has struggled on offense over the start of the season, Young said he wasn't surprised that it was a key hit by Feichko that helped secure the victory.

"He got the big hit today and he's done that for us a lot this season," Young explained.

With the two wins, Carbon High (7-5 overall, 0-2 Region 12) will look to carry their momentum with them as they will travel to Delta on Tuesday, April 9 before returning home to host them on April 11 at the Carbon High Baseball Field at 3:30 p.m.